Grape Wall of China

A China Wine Blog: The Scene in the World’s Largest Market

Grape Wall Challenge 2012: Summergate, ASC, MQ top wine challenge in China

~ By Jim Boyce (Note: Sorry for the delay. This blog went offline several days for — to me — unknown reasons and now is back for — to me — unknown reasons. The mysteries of life.) These are wines with the highest scores in the Grape Wall Challenge 2012. The judges were Chinese consumers who [...]

Bottle shots: Photo essay from Grape Wall Challenge consumer wine contest in China

By Jim Boyce We have the results for the Grape Wall Challenge and I plan to post them later today. In the meantime, some photos from this year’s event. I’ll have more photos — and, of course, the results — soon.

From cork to screw cap: Three wine closure anecdotes from China

~ By Jim Boyce While most wine in China — whether domestically produced or imported — is bottled under cork, and while I repeatedly hear this is what consumers want, we are seeing more screw caps. Three recent cases: 1. I saw the above two bottles of China favorite Cabernet Sauvignon in my local corner [...]

Wine consumer power in China: Annual Grape Wall Challenge held in Beijing

By Jim Boyce They came, they sniffed, they sipped and they scored. The fourth annual Grape Wall Challenge — which features Chinese consumers judging wines that retail for less than rmb100 — was held yesterday in Beijing at restaurant F by Tribute. Here are a few notes about the event, with the official results to [...]

Going twice: Sotheby’s to auction elBulli wine cellar in Hong Kong, New York

~ By Jim Boyce Sotheby’s has announced it will auction off the wine cellar of restaurant elBulli — with a pre-sale estimated value of rmb7 million to rmb10 million, not including buyer’s premium — in both Hong Kong and New York. If you told people five years ago that a) elBulli would close in 2011 [...]

China view: Robert Parker sells Wine Advocate stake to Singapore investors

~ By Jim Boyce Robert Parker might live halfway around the globe but his influence is still felt here in China, where investors and importers regularly cite his scores. In the past few weeks alone, I have been told a half-dozen times — while hemming and hawing over a wine — that Parker gave it [...]

Disease and indecision in Ningxia: Poor grape harvest tests wine industry

~ By Jim Boyce Ningxia has seen its fortunes rise dramatically in the past year: the region has performed well in tastings, gained observer status in the OIV, and seen an influx of wine makers, writers, consultants and investors. Not surprisingly, there are high hopes for Vintage 2012. Fulfilling such hopes, however, will be extremely [...]

China wine portfolios: Summergate adds Inglenook, Clarendon Hills, Henriot Champagne

By Jim Boyce During a recent stop in Beijing, Francis Ford Coppola, owner of Inglenook Estate in Napa Valley, said he paid more for the winery’s name than the land it is on. He also said he liked the movie Sideways much better than Bottle Shock. (Then again, who doesn’t?) More on Coppola soon, but [...]

Call for wine: Grape Wall Challenge 2012 set for F by Tribute in Beijing

(Note: This event is invite-only. We’ll have more info in the next few days on the wines and judges.) The fourth annual Grape Wall Challenge is slated for restaurant F By Tribute in Beijing on December 12. Previous challenges were held at Modo (2011), Maison Boulud (2010) and Maxim’s (2009). Grape Wall Challenge, or GWC, [...]

2012 Grape Wall Challenge FAQ: Chinese consumers as judges, wines under rmb100

By Jim Boyce (中国) The fourth annual Grape Wall Challenge will be held at restaurant F By Tribute in Beijing on December 12. A brief FAQ for the event. What is Grape Wall Challenge? GWC is an annual wine contest organized by contributors to the nonprofit blog Grape Wall of China. The judges are casual [...]

第四届“Grape Wall Challenge”葡萄酒挑战赛FAQ

~ Translated from the English version by Gao Wei 第四届“Grape Wall Challenge”将于12月12 号在北京举行。下面是这次挑战赛的FAQ索引. 什么是“Grape Wall Challenge”? “GWC”是一个年度葡萄酒大赛，它是由Grape Wall of China的官方非盈利博客参与组织。评委都是一些来自中国的普通葡萄酒消费者。葡萄酒零售价都低于100元. 为什么让消费者作为评委呢? 葡萄酒竞赛往往是由专业人员组织的，由专业人员来参与打分的。而我们的目的是想了解一下消费者——真正购买葡萄酒的人——喜欢什么，不喜欢什么. 我们针对的是普通的葡萄酒消费者，即那些工作结束后喝酒,或者买瓶酒在家中饮用的人等。因为市场上缺乏买家喜好的实用信息，所以我们更加关注中国的葡萄酒消费者偏好. 最后,普通消费者总是认为葡萄酒是神圣并且神秘的话题，所以让他们做评委可以增加他们的自信. 为什么选用100元以下的葡萄酒? 中国市场上大部分的葡萄酒都低于100元,然而目前的葡萄酒比赛都专注于高价位的葡萄酒。我们这么做也是希望了解普通消费者对低价位葡萄酒的看法. 如何给这些葡萄酒打分? 首先，评委被分成两组：一组品红葡萄酒另一组品白葡萄酒。每个小组需要盲品20到25款葡萄酒（品尝结束前不能看到标签). 对于每一款葡萄酒,评委需要从以下几个级别打分:”I love it”, “I like it”, “I don’t like it” or “I hate it”。所有酒款评委必须做出喜好选择. 同时，我们还鼓励评委对每款酒进行感官评价，哪怕仅仅是一个词汇，如”fruity果香”, “earthy泥土气息”, “dry干” 或者 “sweet甜”. 你们是怎么获得这些葡萄酒呢？ 我们要求进口商或者经销商来提供这些葡萄酒。每个公司最多可提供四款葡萄酒——两款红的，两款白的。如果他们提供两款红葡萄酒或者白葡萄酒,那么这两款酒必须来自不同的国家. 所有的葡萄酒都应该是零售价低于100元的，当然不包括打折的酒. 为什么GWC与众不同? 首先，我们是中国首个让普通消费者做评委的比赛，这可以让我们更好地了解普通消费者的喜好. 其次，我们重点关注100元以下的葡萄酒，这些酒在市场上销量大却很少被关注，这可以让我们普通消费者最喜欢哪些葡萄酒. 然后，酒源都是来自中国市场上十个最大的进口商和分销商。我们假定这些公司会提供他们认为一定可以胜出的葡萄酒。这样,我们就可以相信我们比赛用酒虽少，但是葡萄酒的质量将会很高. 最后,也可以说是最重要的,我们给普通消费者提供了亲身体验葡萄酒评委的机会，这将会给他们带来强大的自信. [...]

California Grapes: Wine deals, live music and ladies night in Beijing

~ When a slew of wine bars opened this year in Beijing’s Sanlitun-Workers Stadium Corridor — Veloce, The Loop, Cru, Everwines and more — I didn’t imagine my most frequent stop would be Calfornia Grapes in the less-than-ideal B1 area of Sanlitun Soho. All of the wine bars mentioned above have their merits, and I’ll [...]

50 wines @ rmb50: Wine Republic portfolio tasting at Switch! in Beijing

~ By Jim Boyce I’m a fan of portfolio tastings by wine importers / distributors. (Technically, I guess they are partial portfolio tastings, as the most expensive bottles are not typically included, but whatever.) They give me a chance to try a wide range of wines before I plunk down my cash on a bottle. The [...]

  • About Grape Wall of China

    beijing-boyce-grape-wall-of-china-logo

    A nonprofit collaborative blog


    Follow: Weibo, Twitter and Facebook.
    Email: beijingboyce at yahoo.com

  • Grape Wall Contributors


    In alphabetical order (see full list)


    Nicolas Carre
    Sommelier


    Chantal Chi
    Writer


    Yvonne Chiong
    Sommelier, consultant


    Judy Leissner
    Grace Vineyard CEO


    Li Demei
    Wine maker


    Huiqin Ma
    Professor


    Campbell Thompson
    The Wine Republic co-owner


    Frankie Zhao
    Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy owner


    Jim Boyce
    Consumer, blog administrator